Opposites Attract
by Evil Rociel
Summary: Short stories written for the 30 Quills LiveJournal Community. [Pairing: Vincent Valentine & Yuffie Kisaragi]
1. For the Good of Mankind

Disclaimers: All characters belong to their original creators. 

Written in response to 30 Quills Challenge: No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.

For the Good of Mankind  
By Rociel  
27 October 2005

Vincent Valentine, ex-Turk, was a man shrouded in mysteries. Tall, strong, poised, he cut a powerful figure as one of the best marksman in his time. At fifty-nine years of age, he looked no older than twenty-seven, his body frozen in time ever since he was subjected to a certain scientist's diabolic experimentation for the inherent good of science. Those who knew him knew he was a force to be reckoned with. There was little that could faze him. Even so, Vincent was a rather unhappy man. He sighed tiredly as he was interrupted from his slumber for more times than he could care to count. On hindsight, he never should have gotten that cellphone from Midgar.

"If it is about the carrots, I have conveyed the message to Cloud, " he started in his usual monotone before the other could even speak, deceivingly patient, not betraying even a hint of the frustration he felt.

"Well, hello Mr. Sunshine," the female voice sounded slightly miffed.

"Yuffie." Vincent acknowledged in his own quiet way.

"Took you long enough," Yuffie grumbled in a manner not unlike Cid. Vincent almost smiled at that thought. Yuffie and Cid had never gotten along well with each other. Yuffie thought Cid was a grumpy old man and Cid saw Yuffie as a brat kid threatening to soil the pristine floor of his airship. Cid loved flying whereas Yuffie was perpetually airsick. He had to wonder how they would take it if he ever told them how alike they acted sometimes. Chances were, they would put him right back in his coffin. "What were you doing? Sleeping?"

"Yes."

Clearly, that was not the answer Yuffie had been expecting. After a moment of silence, she asked tentatively, "Where are you now?"

"Nibelheim."

"Vincent…" Yuffie started carefully, totally unlike her usual self. It sounded almost like she was addressing a much younger child. Vincent frowned, wondering what caused the sudden change in tone and attitude. "If you really need a place to stay, Wutai has plenty of spare rooms. There is no real need to return to that… coffin..." She sounded disturbed.

Vincent sighed. "An inn, Yuffie, I'm staying at an inn. If there's nothing else-"

"Wait!" Yuffie called out hastily before Vincent could hang up. "Wouldyouliketojointherestofthegangforapicnic?"

Vincent could barely catch the rush of words from Yuffie. "I'm sorry?"

"A picnic! Everybody'll be there!" She continued excitedly. "We're meeting at the entrance of Wutai at noon three days from today. What did you think I was asking you? Whether you slept nude? Though that does pose an interesting question… Do you?" Yuffie asked curiously.

"I'm not-" Vincent interjected but was cut off by Yuffie.

"Pity. Anyway, see you there! And I mean it, or I'll personally hunt you down and drag you over by your hair. You know I can and will do it." Yuffie warned him seriously. Vincent did not doubt that. Yuffie Kisaragi, Lady of Wutai was capable of carrying out any threat she gave voice to.

"Wait-" Vincent tried to protest again.

"I'll call you!" Yuffie promised cheerfully.

"Yuf-" The line was cut off abruptly before he even got a word in. He frowned at the phone. For two years after Sephiroth summoned the meteor that threatened the planet, he had lived in relative peace and solitude. He was free to do as he pleased, travelling widely, never staying in one place for long, doomed to forever wander the lands in atonement for his sins. He was an ex-Turk, one who was extremely good at what he did, with a flair for the melodrama. Nothing fazed him. Things should have stayed that way. It should have but it did not. Everything changed the day he stepped through that fateful door. Some thresholds were never meant to be crossed. He doubted that he would ever find peace again.

No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks. Unfortunately for that man, Vincent Valentine was past caring about good and evil. There would be hell to pay once he found him - the scientific genius who created monsters and twisted lives beyond repair, the man who made sure he never forgot what changed his life so completely, turning it into a living nightmare.

The man who invented cellphones.

End.


	2. The Dare

Disclaimers: All characters belong to their original creators. 

Written in response to 30 Quills Challenge: I just want to flee from this nightmare and never return.

The Dare  
By Rociel  
20 May 2006

"Dare!" The shout was accompanied by cries of delight.

Vincent sat some distance from the rowdy group. He told himself for the umpteen time that he was not being antisocial. He just was not used to noisy and crowded places and preferred to enjoy the flora and fauna of the land. Apparently, one other in the group felt the same way he did. Cloud sat down beside him.

"What do you think?" Cloud asked.

Vincent looked over at the group. There were squeals of protests and peals of laughter from them. "They seem to be having lots of fun," he observed.

"I don't mean them. I meant the situation with Shinra and the Jenova Project," Cloud clarified.

Vincent apologised. "After the incident with Kadaj and his brothers, Rufus-" he started but was cut off abruptly when something cannon-balled right into him, pinning him to the ground. As he reached for his Cerberus with the full intention of putting a few holes in his assailant, a familiar voice teased, "You're getting old." He stopped when he realised who it was and was rewarded with a knowing smirk and a mischievous glint in the other's eyes that evoked nothing but dread in him.

Before Vincent could make his grand escape, he was kissed full on the lips. His eyes widening in surprise, he made a small sound of protest that only served to encourage the other, who deepened the kiss, tongue sliding in to plunder his mouth and steal the breath from him. He had been ready for anything but that.

"Done!" Yuffie declared proudly as she pulled away from Vincent and looked over at the rest of the group while they hooted and clapped, whistled and cried for an encore, dare completed successfully. Even Cloud was holding his sides, shaking with laughter, effectively reduced to tears.

Vincent covered his eyes with the back of his arm, embarrassed, cheeks flaming a shade of scarlet that could rival his cloak, then muttered, "Godo is going to kill me."

End.


	3. The Promise

Disclaimers: All characters belong to their original creators. 

Written in response to 30 Quills Challenge: The past shapes the future.  
Notes: I have taken liberties with the ages and timeline because my maths failed me. Continuity is non-existent. Please have mercy.

The Promise  
By Rociel  
1 January 2007

That was not how he planned to start the day.

"Did you or did you not do it?" The other man was livid, eyes burning with rage as he glared at the ex-Turk.

Vincent stared back placidly. That only served to anger Godo further.

"Are you refusing to speak to me?" The Lord of Wutai seemed on the verge of going into a berserker rage.

"I plead 'not guilty'." Vincent answered deadpan. They were in Godo's room, Godo, Yuffie and himself, where Godo had summoned them the moment he learnt of what had occurred.

It was not for the first time Vincent regretted ever showing up at the picnic.

"Not guilty?!" Godo waved a finger threateningly at him as he repeated again, louder this time, "NOT GUILTY?" He stood then, an impressive looking man for his age. "Not guilty of stealing my baby girl's innocence?"

He was being reprimanded by someone who could possibly tottering around in diapers while he was busy snuffing lives out for Shinra. He would have laughed at the sheer absurdity of the entire situation were it not for the fact that that would most definitely signal the end of his wretched miserable existence - both human or otherwise. That and the fact that Vincent Valentine, did not, should not and could not ever laugh since he was doomed to spend the rest of his life wandering the planet in lonely solitude in atonement for his sins. Laughter was blasphemous. If he ever laughed, the world would keel over and die.

Yuffie Kisaragi was being miraculously silent for once. She sat at the edge of the desk, giving Vincent a helpless smile and a shrug, perfectly content to play the role of the pretty wallflower in the mise en scene. Knowing her, she was probably enjoying the entire spectacle. There was no help forthcoming from her.

"As I recall," Vincent started calmly, "she initiated it. I am more a victim than she is, Lord Godo. I did nothing."

"That's just it! You did nothing!" Godo starting pacing agitatedly at this, "You're older than she is. You should know what is right and proper, what should or should not be done. You should have stopped her!"

Vincent sighed. This could take a while. He looked around the room. There was something familiar about it. He was almost certain that he had been in the room before.

"Are you even listening to me?" The thunderous voice broke through his thoughts, bringing him back to the present.

"What will you have me do before you will let me off?" Vincent asked. He was tired of it all. He just wanted everything to end, he wanted to walk out of the room, get away from it all and hide away in his solitude. Nevermind if Godo thought he was an irredeemable pervert out to take advantage of his precious baby girl.

"Protect her with your life and stay with her always," Godo said out of the blue. The reply was so unexpected that it finally sparked a little more reaction than mere nonchalance from Vincent. He looked at Yuffie startled, then back at Godo. He heard of a tribe of people so strict with their moral etiquettes that any man who so much as touched a woman of the tribe had to marry her. He did not think the tribe really existed. He knew the people of Wutai were a relatively conservative group but surely not to that extent.

"With all due respects, sir, I will not marry your daughter because of one kiss," Vincent stated firmly. He could envision no fate worse than being stuck to Yuffie 24/7. He would gladly entomb himself in his coffin for the next thirty years to avoid that fate if he had to.

"You intend to break your promise then." It was more of a statement than a question. "Do you even remember what you said?"

Vincent frowned slightly, eyes landing on the Conformer in Yuffie's hands. It was then he remembered why the room looked familiar to him. He had been in the room when he was much younger, under circumstances that were no less unpleasant. He made a promise to a mere slip of a child who could barely lift the weapon then.

"I will do everything within my power to keep you and your family safe," he heard the soft words slipping out before he even realised what he was saying, echoing the very words he had spoken in his past.

"Excellent." Godo beamed, the change in his demeanour was too sudden to be natural. Vincent's eyes narrowed at once. He had been played. He looked up at a much older version of the boy, expression grim. Vincent Valentine was not one to make promises lightly. A promise was made, but there was no mention of marriage in his promise. He was sure of it.

"If you're trying to fob off your wayward daughter on me, you've got another thing coming." The ex-Turk ignored the irate 'Hey!' from the younger Kisaragi at the less than complimentary description of her. "What is it you really want, Godo?"

"You haven't changed a bit, Vincent."

"On the contrary, I'm sure you can see what I've-" Godo waved at Vincent impatiently, cutting him off.

"You haven't changed a bit. You're as depressing as ever."

"I apologise for being born without humour."

"Wait a minute! You know each other?!" Yuffie asked incredulously. Vincent replied her with his usual stoic silence.

"We used to catch spiders together," Godo quipped.

Yuffie's eyes went wide with surprise. "No way!"

"If you wanted a bodyguard for your daughter, you could have asked me straight." The cold baritone betrayed no emotion.

Yuffie snorted at that.

Godo smiled amicably, "Where's the fun in that? Do you really want to know what I want?" He asked with a merry twinkle in his eyes, the expression not unlike what Yuffie often wore when she was up to something.

"No." Vincent replied without a moment's hesitation.

Godo cheerfully continued, "I hope to find a nice young man to take Yuffie off my hands, hopefully for good." He arched his eyebrows at the ex-Turk meaningfully, ignoring Yuffie's indignant shrieks.

Vincent shot Godo a dark look. "I'm leaving."

End.


End file.
